Eudora comes up short at Cardinal Relays

The Cardinal Relays didn't go as well as Eudora's track team would have liked, but there were some outstanding individual achievements.

The girls finished fourth and the boys took third of the 10 schools participating. The Sabetha girls and boys won the meet.

"I was let down that we didn't win the meet," Coach Dave Durkin said. "But, we still had some pretty good performances."

Senior Jonathan Clawson prepares to unleash a toss in the shot put
event at the Cardinal Relays. At last Thursday's event on Laws
Field the boys took third place and the girls took fourth.

Atop that list were two girls who broke school records in their events.

Junior Brandi Abel jumped 32 feet, 2.5 inches in the triple jump to beat the school record and finish third.

"Brandi really popped a good one in the triple," Durkin said. Abel also finished fourth in the long jump with a jump of 15-10.

Sophomore Jenny Durkin was the other Cardinal to break a Eudora record. Her jump of 5-1 1/2 in the high jump bettered the school's best mark and closer to her season goal of 5-4.

"She was jumping with the wind in her face the whole time," Coach Durkin said. "She beared down and really got after it."

The girls 4x400-meter relay team, composed of Sarah Abel, Rachel Abel, Tracine Bowling and Kelly Campbell, earned second place with a time of 4:38.53.

The 4x100-meter relay team was third in 56.45.

In the pole vault, two Eudora girls, junior Lacey Deathe and freshman Anna Fernandez, tied for fourth place with a vault of 6-6.

Senior Aaron Slavin tries to make up some ground on the backstretch
of the track during the 1600m run. Slavin took third in the event
with a time of 4:55.19.

Freshman Rachel Abel ran the 100-meter dash in 12.91 for second place.

"Man, she was really flying out there," Coach Durkin said.

The girls track team has really started to pull together this season, the coach said. With just 15 girls competing, they have done wonders compared to last year.

"Those girls have just really started to amaze us," Coach Durkin said. "It's kind of like night and day.

Last year, the team just had freshmen and sophomores. Now, they're sophomores and juniors and are really showing what they're capable of," he said. "The freshmen are also contributing a lot to the team."

The coach said that all the girls this year have really stepped up to compete and have baptized varsity track at Eudora.

The coach was a little surprised the boys didn't score better in the field events. However, junior Josh Bowser jumped 21-2 for first place in the long jump.

Durkin said junior Cody Lauber was nursing a sore elbow and had trouble with the javelin. The high wind didn't help his cause. He finished fourth with a throw of 150-5.

Sophomore Seth Mullis was fifth in the triple with a jump of 39.

Freshman Rachel Abel dashes to her second-place finish in the
100-meter dash with a time of 12.91 at the Cardinal Relays.

Nate Cleveland, who won the pole vault last week and was working toward the school record, vaulted 10 for a sixth-place finish. Cleveland was competing with a sore ankle that he injured the day before in practice.

Junior Wes Hinman threw the discus 115-5.5 for a fourth-place finish.

Senior Brett Becker was second in the 110-meter high hurdles with a mark of 15.94.

Senior Aaron Slavin completed the 1600-meter run in 4:55.19.

Senior Brian Harris and Becker finished second and third, respectively, in the 300-meter hurdles. Harris finished in 43.22 and Becker in 44.86.

In the 800-meter run, sophomore James Barr placed third in 2:12.79.

On the boys relay teams, Durkin is still moving the runners around. At this past meet, they didn't do as well as usual.

"It's getting close to where we'll make the decision of who's going to be on them," Durkin said. "We're going to do some more tinkering in the next week and then make up our mind."

In the 4x400, the boys were fifth in 3:42.89. The 4x800-meter group was also fifth in 9:34.88. The Cardinals were also fifth in the 4x100.

Six runners are slated in both the 4x100-meter relay and the 4x400-meter relay team andvhave been rotating in and out since the first part of the season.

"They are all very close," Durkin said. "And that's a good problem to have. They all want to be on the team, so it makes them work even harder.

Currently in the rotation for the 4x100 is Lauber, Seth Mullis, Zac Tyler, Sam Campbell, Josh Bowser and Brian Harris.

In the 4x400, the rotation is senior Aaron Slavin, Harris, Campbell, senior Brett Becker and Tyler. Durkin said

Tyler stands out in that bunch, with the others not too far behind. Tyler did not compete in the relays because of a minor injury he suffered during the 200-meter preliminaries.

The thrower's 4x100-meter relay has consistently placed first at meets this season. That team consists of senior John Powers, senior Jonathan Clawson, junior Wes Hinman and junior Jason Lister. The next track meet for the Cardinals will be at 4 p.m. Friday at Silver Lake Friday.